Squeeze action wrench

ABSTRACT

THE WRENCH HAS A HANDLE WITH AN ACTUATING LEVER PIVOTED FOR OPERATION BY A SQUEEZING ACTION TO ROTATE A SOCKET ELEMENT, WHICH IS CONFIGURED TO ACCEPT A VARIETY OF NUTS, BOLTS AND THE LIKE. THE TOOTHED DRIVING MECHANISM IS INCORPORATED IN THE MAIN STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS FOR MAXIMUM STRENGTH AND IS POSITIVELY ENGAGED FOR THE MAJOR PORTION OF A SQUEEZING STROKE, THEN RELEASES FOR QUICK RATCHET ACTION RETURN. IN ONE POSITION OF THE ACTUATING LEVER THE SOCKET ELEMENT IS LOCKED FOR POWERFUL LEVERAGE ACTION BY THE HANDLE.

Jan. 26, 1971 y G. w. GREGORY 3,557,544

' sQUEEzE ACTION WRENCH Filed Nov. 18., 1968 |2 34 I\6 /IO Y I zo w' www /f MH 1 62 626 28 ,`44 38 we@ f www .Milw- United States Patent O 3,557,644 SQUEEZE ACTION WRENCH Gerrett W. Gregory, 68 Casselman Place, Chula Vista, Calif. 92010 Filed Nov. 18, 1968, Ser. No. 776,557 Int. Cl. B25b 13/46 U.S. Cl. 81-57.39 6 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to hand tools and particularly to a squeeze action Wrench.

Most ratchet 'wrenches are operated by swinging the handle and are not always practical in conned areas. The ratchet mechanism is usually quite small and will not |withstand heavy loads, and is easily jammed by slight deformation or by corrosion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The Wrench described herein has a handle with a hinged lever portion, the end of the lever itself incorporating the driving teeth, which engage a toothed socket element rotatably mounted in the wrench. Squeezing action of the lever against the iixed handle holds the toothed elements in secure engagement until near the end of a squeezing stroke, then a unique ramp configuration in the handle allows or causes the lever to slide out of engagement with the socket element to return to starting position. The lever will return by ratchet action and, in the starting position, the toothed elements are securely interengaged for certain and maximum leverage to be applied by swinging the entire handle. Interchangeable adapters are used in the socket element, for various sizes and types of nuts and bolts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation view, partially cut away, of the wrench in the released or start of stroke position;

FIG. 2 is a detail, partially section, of a socket adapter element used with the wrench;

FIG. 3 is a IView similar to FIG. l, with the actuating lever near the end of a squeezing stroke;

FIG. 4 is a partial similar view with the lever fully closed against the fixed handle;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5--5 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 4.

Similar characters of reference indicate similar or identical elements and portions throughout the specification and throughout the views of the drawing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The basic structure of the wrench comprises a handle 10, at one end of which are spaced parallel side plates 12 fixed to opposite sides of the handle to form an open frame 14. Rivets 16, or any other suitable means are used to secure the structure. Between side plates 12 is a socket "ice element l18 having cylindrical hub portions 20 which are rotatably held in corresponding openings 22 in the side plates, the periphery of the socket element between the side plates having ratchet teeth 24.

The wrench is operated by an actuating lever 26 having a transverse hinge pin 28, which is journalled in opposed slotted openings 30 in side plates 12. Slotted openings 30 are inclined downwardly from handle 10 and outwardly from socket element 18, allowing the lever to slide to a limited extent as well as swing in the general plane of the handle and side plates. The end of actuating lever 26 adjacent the socket element has driving teeth 32 which, when hinge pin 28l is at the upper end of slotted openings 30, intert with ratchet teeth 24.

The ratio and number of the driving and ratchet teeth determine the rotation of the socket element at each stroke and can vary, leverage being determined by the length of the actuating lever on each side of the hinge pin. The underside of handle 10 immediately adjacent the socket element is cut away to provide an inclined stop ramp 34 against which the actuating lever 26 rests in the open or inoperative position, as in FIG. 1. A torsion type return spring 36 is tted around hinge pin 28 and has legs 38 and 40 which engage the handle and actuating lever and spread the lever apart from the handle. This holds the lever against stop ramp 34 at a convenient angle for gripping the lever and handle in one hand. The handle has a second ramp portion 42 of more shallow inclination than stop ramp 34 and extending from the junction of the handle with side plates 12 to intersect the stop ramp, the second ramp 42 acting as a rocker ramp.

When actuating lever 26 is equeezed toward handle 10, the angle between the two will decrease until the lever rests against the rocker ramp 42. 'Throughout this portion of the stroke the hinge pin 28 remains in the upper ends of slotted openings 30 and driving teeth 32 are securely engaged with ratchet teeth 24, causing rotation of the socket element 18 to the position shown in FIG. 3. Continued squeezing action on actuating lever 26 will cause the lever to rock about the apex 44 at the junction of rocker ramp 42 with the main portion of the handle. This will cause the hinge pin 28 to move downwardly in slotted openings 30 which, due to their inclination, will cause the lever to slide outwardly and disengage driving teeth 32 from the ratchet teeth 24, as in FIG. 4. In the fully closed position the actuating lever 26 is substantially parallel to handle 10.

While the return spring 36 will return the actuating lever to the open position, a more positive action is obtained by using a second torsion type return spring 46 held on a pin 48 between the side plates 12, and having one leg 50 against a xed stop pin 52 and the other leg S4 engaged in a notch 56 in the underside of actuating lever 26. This latter spring will lift the hinge pin 28 in slotted openings 30 and ensure proper return of the lever. The actual arrangement of return spring or springs may vary to suit a specific size or configuration of wrench, that shown being one example.

When actuating lever 26 is released and spring return to open position, the driving teeth 32 will ride over teeth 24 with a ratchet action, the slotted openings 30 allowing the lever to slide as necessary to ride over the ratchet teeth. The actuating lever need not be completely closed In the fully open position of FIG. 1, the teeth are locked and handle 10 may be used to turn the wrench in the manner of a normal closed end wrench to obtain a powerful leverage. The pressure will keep the hinge pin 28 firmly in the upper ends of slotted openings 30, the actuating lever being effectively jammed against stop ramp 34 with the teeth locked.

As illustrated, the socket element 18 has a twelve pointed axially extending socket 58, which will fit square or hexagonal heads, the configuration being well known. To permit use with various sizes of nuts and bolts a set of adapters may be inserted in socket 58. In FIG. 1, four progressively sized hexagonal adapters 60, 62, 64 and 66 are shown as an example. To hold the adapters in the socket and within each other in nested arrangement, each has a resilient plug 68 secured through its wall, as typified by adapter 62 in FIG. 2. The plugs provide a frictional binding t, but allow easy separation of the elements.

By incorporating the driving teeth into the actuating lever and mounting the lever for ratchet action, a strong mechanism is obtained and the usual separate pawl is eliminated. To reverse the direction of rotation of the socket element, the wrench is merely turned over.

It is understood that minor variation from the form of the invention disclosed herein may be made without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and that the specification and drawing are to be considered as merely illustrative rather than limiting.

I claim:

1. A squeeze action wrench, comprising:

a frame having an elongated fixed handle extending therefrom;

a socket element mounted in said frame for rotation about an axis substantially perpendicular to the plane of said handle, said socket element having peripheral ratchet teeth;

an actuating lever pivotally mounted in said frame to swing substantially in the plane of said handle, said actuating lever having driving teeth unitary with an end of the lever and directly engaging said ratchet teeth;

the pivotal mounting of said actuating lever having limited sliding freedom generally transversely of said elongated handle for ratchet action of said driving teeth over the ratchet teeth;

and spring means biasing said actuating lever into driving engagement with said socket element.

2. A squeeze action wrench, comprising:

a frame having a fixed handle extending therefrom;

a socket element mounted in said frame for rotation about an axis substantially perpendicular to the plane of said handle, said socket element having peripheral ratchet teeth;

an actuating lever pivotally mounted in said frame to swing substantially in the plane of said handle, said actuating lever having driving teeth directly engaging said ratchet teeth;

the pivotal mounting of said actuating lever having limited sliding freedom for ratchet action of said driving teeth over the ratchet teeth;

and spring means biasing said actuating lever into driving engagement with said socket element;

CII

the pivotal mounting of said actuating lever comprising a hinge pin fixed in the lever, said frame having elongated slotted openings in which said hinge pin is slidably journalled, and said openings being inclined away lfrom said handle and said socket element.

3. The structure of claim 1 and including an apex portion in said frame distinct from said pivotal mounting, about which said actuating lever rocks near the end of a squeezing stroke, causing a sliding action of the lever and disengagement of said driving teeth from said ratchet teeth.

4. A squeeze action wrench, comprising:

a frame having a fixed handle extending therefrom;

a socket element mounted in said frame for rotation about an axis substantially perpendicular to the plane of said handle, said socket element having peripheral ratchet teeth;

an actuating lever pivotally mounted in said frame to swing substantially in the plane of said handle, said actuating lever having driving teeth directly engaging said ratchet teeth;

the pivotal mounting of said actuating lever having limited sliding freedom for ratchet action of said driving teeth over the ratchet teeth;

and spring means biasing said actuating lever into driving engagement with said socket element;

said frame comprising a pair of spaced parallel side plates fixed on opposite sides of said handle, said side plates having opposed circular openings, and said socket element having axially projecting hub portions journalled in said openings;

said actuating lever extending between said side plates adjacent said handle;

the pivotal mounting of said actuating lever comprising a hinge pin fixed in said lever, said side plates having elongated slotted openings in which said hinge pin is slidably journalled, and said slotted openings being inclined away from said handle and said socket member.

5. The structure of claim 4, wherein the end portion of said handle between said side plates has an inclined stop ramp against which said actuating lever is held in an open position divergent from said handle, with said driving teeth securely engaged with said ratchet teeth.

6. The structure of claim 5, wherein the said end portion of the handle has a rocker ramp of shallower inclination than the stop ramp and extending from the stop ramp to the main portion of the handle, the junction of said rocker ramp with the main portion of the handle providing an apex about which said actuating lever rocks at the end of a squeezing stroke, causing said hinge pin to slide in said slotted openings and disengaging said driving teeth from said ratchet teeth.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS v1,543,338 6/1925 Neal et al. Sl-58.1 613,283 11/1898 Krahe 81-57.39X 1,204,095 11/1916 Wallen 81-58.1 919,260 4/1909 Smith fil-57.46

JAMES L, JONES, JR., Primary Examiner 

